On Seeing Clearly and Thriving: Interpersonal Perspicacity as Adaptive (Not Depressive) Realism (Or Where Three Theories Meet)

Abstract

Does realism characterize good mental health or maladjustment? In this paper, it is argued that illusory views of social reality, even if self-enhancing, represent a feature of mental distress (not health). Two studies of unselected undergraduates and their same-sex roommates were reported. In Study 1, 466 undergraduates completed a measure of depressive symptoms, and provided global self-ratings; their roommates provided ratings of them. A curvilinear relation between self-other discrepancies and depressive symptoms was detected, in which discrepancies of any kind (even if self-enhancing) were associated with higher depressive symptoms. Using a similar design, Study 2 (N = 143) replicated this finding and extended it to other symptoms and to longitudinal analyses. It is concluded that illusory views of interpersonal reality (even if self-enhancing), far from bolstering adjustment, represent a pattern of attitudes that typifies maladjustment. Is it not clear too that through self-knowledge men come to much good, andthrough self-deception to much harm? For those who know themselves, know what things are expedient for themselves and discern their own powers and limitations. And by doing what they understand, they get what they want and prosper: by refraining from attempting what they do not understand, they make no mistakes and avoid failure. And consequently through their power of testing other men too, and through their intercourse with others, they get what is good and shun what is bad.

Depressive symptoms and bias in perceived social competence among young adults

“…In this sample, depressive symptoms were not correlated with agreement between selfand peer ratings of social competence; rather, higher symptom levels were associated with more negatively biased self-perceptions. Our results also were not supportive of the self-verification perspective (Joiner et al, 2006), which predicts a curvilinear association between depressive symptoms and self-other discrepancies, in which holding either an overly positive or an overly negative view of the self is linked with higher depression. Joiner et al (2006) demonstrated support for self-verification theory; in their sample, participants who self-evaluated accurately had lower symptoms than did those who either underestimated the self (self-denigrators) or those who overestimated the self (self-enhancers).…”

“…In the current study, we examined relations between depressive symptoms and selfevaluations to test the predictive value of three competing theories: depressive realism (Alloy & Abramson, 1979;Taylor & Brown, 1988), negative cognitive distortion (Beck, 1967), and self-verification (Joiner et al, 2006). We focused on how depressive symptoms relate to self-perceptions in the social domain, given the importance of perceived social and interpersonal success to general well-being and psychosocial adjustment (e.g., Larson et al, 2007;Riggio, Watring, & Throckmorton, 1993;Roisman et al, 2004).…”

“…Building upon this theory, Joiner et al posited that inaccuracy in self-evaluations, which leads to a discrepancy between self-views and others' views of the self, will threaten perceptions of control and consistency and therefore be associated with psychological distress. That is, because evaluating oneself either too positively or too negatively will create uncomfortable situations in which social feedback does not verify the self-concept, it should be correlated with poorer mental health (Joiner et al, 2006). In support of this theory, these authors found that both overestimation and underestimation of the self (i.e., both positive and negative bias) were correlated with dysphoria.…”

“…More recently, Joiner, Kistner, Stellrecht, and Merrill (2006) put forth a third perspective based on the self-verification principle that individuals seek social feedback that is consistent with their self-views (e.g., Swann & Read, 1981). Selfverification theory states that even those who have negative self-conceptions prefer feedback that confirms their negative views (Giesler, Josephs, & Swann, 1996) because it bolsters their perceived control and psychological needs for consistency (Swann, Stein-Seroussi, & Giesler, 1992).…”

“…We evaluated three competing perspectives: depressive realism (Alloy & Abramson, 1979;Taylor & Brown, 1988), Beck's (1967) cognitive theory, and the self-verification perspective (Joiner et al, 2006), which make contradicting predictions about how depression and dysphoria (i.e., subclinical, but elevated, depressive-symptom levels) relate to selfevaluations. Depressive realism theory predicts that depressed people will make highly accurate self-evaluations while the nondepressed will show a systematic positive bias in self-ratings.…”